You sound like an expert on the Ptolemaic system who has been confrontedwith Copernicus' work. Naturally, he rejects it.

On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Haim <hpipik@netzero.com> wrote:

> The item below, in The Paper of Record, caught my attention. As it> happens, this elementary school is my son's alma mater and I know it inside> out.>> First, a light-hearted moment. So, the gist of the NYT article is that> people far outside the catchment will lie, cheat, and steal to get their> children into this school. Yet, the DOPE's ("Dept of Public Education")> progress report on PS 321 gives the school an overall grade of "B" mostly> because of its Student Progress grade of "D". How to understand the> seeming paradox of families desperate to gain entrance to an okay school?>> Maybe somebody can help me out, but I see only three possible> explanations. Either the Education Mafia are morons and they produce a> report that is mainly worthless, or people are stupid and do not understand> the value of the report, or the report is a tangible measure of the> disconnect between Education Mafia ideology and the hopes and aspirations> of the common citizens.>> But now, there is a deeper mystery. So, here we have, in PS 321, a> school that is highly desirable to very many people. What is it about PS> 321 that is so desirable and, if it is so desirable, why do the Education> Mafia not duplicate these desirable elements in other NYC elementary> schools? I can tell you that the desirability of PS 321, if not unique, is> certainly rare and of very long standing: the school was highly desirable> years before my son attended and it remains highly desirable some eight yrs> after he "graduated".>> That the Education Mafia has not replicated this school, many times, is> plainly evident from the NYT article. So, I am racking my brains figuring> out what about PS 321 is so hard to replicate. In The People's Republic of> Brooklyn, in The Church of The Democratic Party, in the very Mordor of> American liberalism, in a borough that voted for Obama in 2008 at a rate> north of 90% (and will most likely do so again next week), could this be> the explanation:>> https://reportcards.nysed.gov/files/2010-11/AOR-2011-331500010321.pdf> >Demographic Factors> >White: 72%>> in a public school population that is about 14% white?>> Haim> No representation without taxation.> - ----------------------------->>> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/nyregion/at-an-overcrowded-school-in-park-slope-no-one-wants-to-leave.html?hpw> October 29, 2012> At an Overcrowded School in Park Slope, No One Wants to Leave> By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS>> As the day draws to a close at Public School 321, the school that launched> a thousand strollers toward Park Slope, Brooklyn, the grown-ups begin to> assemble outside. Bus drivers pull their long yellow ferries up out front.> Parents and caretakers hover near doorways and perch on benches.>> Some adults wait in cars, ready to shuttle their little students to homes> far away, even far outside the school?s prescribed zone.>> They are beneficiaries of a longstanding regulation in New York City that> says that once children are registered at a public school, they can remain> until they graduate, regardless of where in the city they live after> registration day.>> But Park Slope has seen a lot of development in recent years, especially> in family-size apartments, and the Education Department is pushing forward> a plan to redraw several zones in the area and add a new school, in an> effort to keep overcrowded institutions from becoming even more tightly> packed. If the plan is approved, the zone devoted to P.S. 321 will shrink> by the equivalent of about 10 city blocks. The catchment area for another> crowded and popular Park Slope school, P.S. 107, will be slimmer by about> five blocks.>> Suddenly, this longstanding regulation for children who move has slid> directly into the eye of a fraught fight. Many parents on blocks facing> rezoning, who bought their homes expressly so their children could attend a> particular school, are furious and panicked. And there is a sense among> many of them, who pile into community meetings and online forums, that> families who touch down in the neighborhood just long enough to register> their children, sometimes for just a year or less, may be following the> letter of the regulation but are not following its intent.>> ?They?re safe,? said Leslie Uretsky, a parent of two young children who> are being zoned out of P.S. 321 and into a new school. ?My daughters would> be an experiment.?>> School officials say it is primarily the new construction that is creating> the untenable trend of overcrowding, not the children who attend P.S. 321> but live far away. Nonetheless, parents living in the zone say that the> children who live elsewhere are taking up precious seats, and that families> who come to the area without plans to stay long are taking advantage of the> rules.>> Though the circumstances surrounding those families who do not stay vary> widely, more often than not it was the school that drew the parents in, and> it is economics that forces them out.>> When it was time for Stefan Fredrick?s daughter to start school, he and> his family moved from their rental in Park Slope, just outside the P.S. 321> zone, to another rental within the zone. The apartment was not ideal.>> ?It cost a fortune,? Mr. Fredrick said, ?and to spend that and having mice> running around wasn?t great.?>> After years of looking for a home to buy, and putting down a few bids on> apartments in the P.S. 321 zone, Mr. Fredrick said his family found a place> in Gowanus, just a few blocks away from the school but outside its zone. So> they took it.>> ?It was not our intention to zip in and zip out,? he said. ?We would have> stayed if we could have.?>> Francesca Pope, who was retrieving two of her four children from P.S. 321> last week in a gray minivan, said it was economics that forced her family,> as well, to move out. Ms. Pope grew up in Park Slope, in the house where> her father was raised, she said, but when she was pregnant with her third> son, the apartment where she and her husband were living was sold. The> apartments they could afford in the area were untenable for a family with> more than two children.>> ?Even our bed wouldn?t fit in some of those places,? she said.>> They moved to Flatbush, but she did not want to take her children out of> the school they knew. Ms. Pope has two sons there now ? if a school has the> room, siblings of students already in the school can enroll, even if they> do not live in that zone ? and she continues to volunteer at coat drives,> class trips and fund-raisers.>> ?Families are really truly invested in the school, even if they leave the> neighborhood,? Ms. Pope said. ?It?s a source of stability.?>> The relocation rule, which has been on the books for at least two decades,> provides children with an important modicum of stability, even if their> families move around, educators say.>> ?Switching schools disrupts education,? said Carrie Marlin, a planning> official at the Education Department. ?We think all students deserve> continuity.?>> None of that, however, is of great comfort to the families being squeezed> out of the zone, who say they are being blindsided, with little warning and> less opportunity to be heard. The plan will be put to a vote in the coming> weeks by the district?s Community Education Council, which controls> rezoning; if passed, it will go into effect for the next school year.>> At a community meeting this month, Elizabeth Phillips, the principal of> P.S. 321, said that while the majority of students who live outside of the> zone lived within it at some point, there were those who never did.>> ?Are there people who lie about their address? Of course,? she said before> a roomful of jittery parents. ?We check as much as we can. We do home> visits. But there is a limit.?>> One official said schools sometimes had success rooting out parents who> were lying about their address simply by asking for more documentation when> they went in to register, which led some parents to stop trying.>> Another factor in this very expensive neighborhood is property values.> Ruthanne Pigott, president and owner of Brenton Realty, a local brokerage,> said there was a premium built into prices of apartments in the P.S. 321> zone. And though prices in the neighborhood are extremely high even outside> the zone, many families are anxious about the prospect of losing that> premium.>> Jean-Francois Collard, a parent in the neighborhood that is being redrawn> out of that zone, said he and his wife planned to sell their apartment to> pay his children?s college tuition; now he fears that they could end up> $100,000 short.>> One thing most of the neighborhood?s parents can agree on is that there is> no perfect solution to P.S. 321?s crowding problem. Another is that when it> comes to children, a primal rule applies. Said Katie Keating, a P.S. 321> parent: ?You can?t really fault a parent for trying to get their kid the> best situation they can.?>> Randy Leonard contributed reporting.>

-- --Louis A. Talman Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences Metropolitan State College of Denver